Ruairí Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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3147. To ask the Minister for Health to consider additional funding and a strategy to deal with obesity issues; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [43489/25]

Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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A Healthy Weight for Ireland, the current Obesity Policy and Action Plan (OPAP), was launched in September 2016 under the auspices of the Healthy Ireland Framework (Healthy Ireland: A Framework for Improved Health and Wellbeing 2013-2025).

OPAP covers a 10-year period up to 2025 and the overall aim is to reverse obesity trends, prevent health complications, and reduce the impact of overweight and obesity on health outcomes for individuals, families, the health system, and the wider society and economy. It recognises that obesity is a complex, multifaceted problem and needs a multi-pronged solution, with every sector of society playing its part. OPAP is well aligned with the World Health Organisation in terms of the breadth of policy measures that have been introduced or are being considered in order to address the obesity epidemic.

Under OPAP, Ireland has put in place a comprehensive, cross-Government strategy to address obesity and overweight. Since 2016 significant progress has been made in delivering on the Ten Step Programme of OPAP and to drive policy initiatives and actions, ranging from health promotion and education initiatives and obesity prevention measures through to establishing services to treat and manage obesity within the health care system.

In Budget 2025, funding of €2 million was allocated to complete the roll out of Phase 1 of implementation of the Health Service Executive (HSE) and Royal College of Physicians in Ireland (RCPI) National Clinical Care Programme (NCCP) Model of Care (MOC) for the Treatment and Management of Obesity. Phase 2 will also commence ensuring that access to treatment will increase across primary, secondary and tertiary treatment services.

The current OPAP runs through to the end of 2025 and a successor Obesity Policy and Action Plan is due at the beginning of 2026. The Department is at an early stage of preparing the next OPAP. In January, the Department held a workshop with Government departments, agencies, public health bodies, advocacy groups and academics to identify some of the key themes to consider as part of the development of the next OPAP.

Following a tender process, consultants experienced in strategy development, stakeholder engagement, workshop facilitation, and obesity-related healthcare policy were appointed to assist in developing the new Obesity Policy and Action Plan.

As part of this work, the consultants will facilitate focus groups with key stakeholder groups once the vision and strategic goals for a new policy have been identified by policy makers, informed by evidence. We also anticipate conducting a public stakeholder consultation in the coming weeks.

It is expected that a new obesity policy will be published in early 2026. The Programme for Government, Securing Ireland's Future, includes a commitment to develop a new Obesity Policy and Action Plan.